The not-lie

sometimes love is all that can save us, sometimes love can kill a man

Remi took a step forward, but for some reason bridging the distance felt...strange. Like he wasn't permitted, even though the fox was allowing him. One of Remi's hands seemed to want to go towards the fox's waist, to comfort or hold, or perhaps just touch, but somewhere along the way he seemingly thought better of it. "I will have you know that the last time I tried to alter a magical item it turned in to a lobster." Remi whispered, the corners of his lips edging upwards into a smile before the gravity of the situation dragged them back down.

Focusing his gaze on the leather encircling the fox's neck, Remi took a breath. He wasn't entirely sure how the magic worked, he only knew that somewhere along the way he had picked up this new ability. He only hoped it would not fail him now. Giving Ianto a last lingering look—of hope, desperation, love, and hurt—Remi sent his magic into the collar, to try and remove it.

sometimes love is a soft touch, or a line drawn in the sand

Coding base by Sky!

ARDUINNA

Well, well, well. What a pretty little display of impudence her fox has gotten himself into.

Arduinna has been watching for a while, nestled in the watching trees, but now she is suddenly there with them. Her golden eyes are almost feline in the creeping darkness, her fiery hair dark as blood.

"That is a wonderful skill you have there," she remarks to Remi, smiling with small, white teeth. "But whatever do you intend by it? The collar is a symbol, petal. Removing it does not remove debt."

Nature, nurture heaven and home
Sum of all, and by them, driven
To conquer every mountain shown

Table by Sky!

Ianto

"A lobster?" Ianto mumbled quietly, a touch of a smile on his face, though it was gone as quickly as it arrived. He clenched his fists at his sides to prevent himself from flinching back, squeezing his eyes shut--

Which was a shame, because he missed the way the collar scattered into the trees as a few brightly coloured butterflies. It was impressive to say the least - but then all of a sudden, none of that mattered.

Ianto's blood turned to ice in his veins at the sound of Arduinna's voice, the fox clenching his jaw and stepping back in order that he could properly get on his knees. His hands moved to his lap, palms up, and his gaze - full of pain, fear, a touch of I told you not to do this - directed solidly on the ground.

He said nothing.

Coding base by Sky!

sometimes love is all that can save us, sometimes love can kill a man

Remi watched, his will breaking down the magical tendrils holding the leather fast, and in a fluttering of wings it was gone.

It was gone and euphoria swooped up from Remi's stomach into his throat, pulling his lips apart into a laugh. The hands around the collar reached up to touch the unshaven and scruffy cheeks until—

—Ianto was kneeling

Spinning to look at Arduinna, the woman he'd only heard about but as of yet hadn't seen, Remi drew in a staggered and shocked breath as he tried to get his bearings. "Arduinna." He greeted, his head bowing instinctively as he inwardly cringed at the warble in his voice.

"I intended to break it." Remi replied, his voice honest and innocent, properly intimidated and afraid. "Surely Ianto serving as your merchant is payment enough for the wagon? Is there not...not some end to the debt?"

sometimes love is a soft touch, or a line drawn in the sand

Coding base by Sky!

ARDUINNA

She observes, her presence slow and gentle to his frenetic panic, and the forest about them tilts and warps, like the trees are laughing. Like the sky is breaking. There is thunder like that of a heartbeat that thrums between the three of them - master, servant, interloper.

Arduinna walks, her bare feet taking her in a slow circle around to where the fox kneels, allowing her to clasp his shoulders in a maternal gesture of love - and Remi would see, already, that the collar has returned to where it disappeared only a moment before.

"Sweet child, you speak but you do not understand," she says, smiling up at him. "The wagon is arbitrary nonsense - a means of achieving a desire. No, Ianto promised me his life in return for... well, his life. The debt ends when he ends."

As they speak her fingers have lengthened to talons, and spots of dark red are already appearing where she grips Ianto's shoulders. Still, her expression is serene. "It would be foolish to alter terms to something less agreeable, as I'm sure you can understand."

Nature, nurture heaven and home
Sum of all, and by them, driven
To conquer every mountain shown

Table by Sky!

sometimes love is all that can save us, sometimes love can kill a man

The dizzying sway of the forest makes Remi blink against its disruptiveness, and though he wants to turn and touch and kneel beside Ianto and whisper apologies or words of confidence to him, all he can see is hair the colour of a wildfire and eyes smooth as honey.

Being charged with ignorance is not so surprising given how very little Ianto has actually revealed, and Remi nods in agreement with this judgement. Watching as she furthers her grip against the fox, Remi instinctively reaches out, his own fingers forming into both talons and claws as both predators inside of himself recoil angrily at this show of force on the part of the fae. "Please don't." Remi asks, his lips tightening as he pulls his fingers into a fist to dissolve the claws now prominently displayed.

"What is his life to you? What...why this control? What could he possibly do for you that requires such..bondage?"

sometimes love is a soft touch, or a line drawn in the sand

Coding base by Sky!

ARDUINNA

Arduinna straightens up after a few moments, but the movement does not seem connected to Remi's plea - indeed, the Fae is more interested in the rings that adorn Ianto's fingers, his ears, the clothes he wears, than the heartfelt words from a man in love.

When she regards Remi, it is with none of the warmth previously displayed, and the trees (illusion? reality?) curl and hunch inward, as if accusing him of bad manners. "My, but you have a quick tongue," she murmurs. Suddenly it is as though she has turned to smoke, stepping through Ianto and in front of Remi, blocking his path to her charge. "You ought to be careful, petal. Those who do not guard their tongues risk losing them."

It happens in but a moment. So simple. Meaningless, almost.

Arduinna stands before Remi, the cold gold of her stare piercing him to the core.

Then her hand moves - talons, claws, hooked and deadly - and rakes across his face, intending to maim, to damage, to blind. "It is none of your concern, child," she says, very softly, very quietly. "The agreement was made. The agreement stands. Offer something better, or leave well enough alone. Do we understand each other?"

Nature, nurture heaven and home
Sum of all, and by them, driven
To conquer every mountain shown

Table by Sky!

sometimes love is all that can save us, sometimes love can kill a man

As the trees bow their disdain, instinctively his magic reaches out to press them back and soothe their wandering limbs. Remi too straightens, blinking naively like a lamb before slaughter and stupidly wanting to peer around Arduinna to the man behind her. But her height combined with his folded posture hides him effectively, and suddenly Remi feels quite alone.

"I am sor—" He begins to apologize, the words slipping so easily from his lips, but they are swallowed up by the swiftness of her movement and the sudden flare of pain that is as blinding as one of his eyes now is. No warrior with no instinct to defend him against pain, the alchemist stumbles, falling to his knees with his hands pressed against his face now bleeding freely and easily. "Nnnnnnng—" The alchemist moans. No healing magic has he and Isla is far away, back at the guild.

"I just...want to love him." Remi mumbles, his lips thick with sticky blood, tears, and pain.

sometimes love is a soft touch, or a line drawn in the sand

Coding base by Sky!

ARDUINNA

Arduinna watches as he crumples to the ground. She watches Remi, bleeding and hurt... and she watches Ianto, too, the fox trembling quietly some ways behind her, his eyes blankly staring at the dirt. At least things are as they should be in that regard.

Remi's words draw her attention around again, and Arduinna regards him with an expression like the gentle fall of rain. "Love makes powerful deals," she says. "Come and find me, if you want to make one."

For now, though, she leaves him be. In every sense of the word, indeed, for as she turns to walk away, she takes Ianto with her. She is not done with the fox, and even blind she has no doubt that Remi will cause a scene. So she leaves him to navigate the Wildwood alone.

Nature, nurture heaven and home
Sum of all, and by them, driven
To conquer every mountain shown

Table by Sky!

sometimes love is all that can save us, sometimes love can kill a man

'N—nno—p-pl--eas—" He tries, shock setting in. Remi shivers and there's a strange buzzing in his ears, and he cocks his head to the side as if straining to hear something.

But there is nothing. Just the silent and weighty disapproval of the trees, who without Arduinna, seem to only pity the alchemist, instead of laugh.

"Iant—" He wheezes, eyelashes thick with bloody beginning to dry while a fresh lacquer drips from his many wounds. "Ianto, wher—" Breathy. Gaspy. Panicked. Cringing and grinding his teeth together against the pain, Remi tries to take a deep breath and hold it, but quickly the blinding (literally) echoes of pain are too much, and he gasps it out loudly. Instinctively he knows that he is alone here, but he can't believe it. Shifting his nose to something more powerful, Remi scents the air, the lack of smoke and juniper and gold telling him all he needed to know.

Ianto was gone, which perhaps more than his wounds did.

Stupidly he tried to whistle, but his lips were shredded. Even so, he knew the tune did not matter so much as the thought, and so he thought of the fox. He thought hard of him, hoping desperately that the wagon would appear. That the fox would.

"Please—" He begged into the stillness of the surrounding trees.

sometimes love is a soft touch, or a line drawn in the sand

Coding base by Sky!